The invention relates to, a method for controlling a lubrication system for a sootblower comprising a lubricant container, a pump, and sootblower specific lubrication means connected to at least one sootblower by pipelines for passing lubricant to each sootblower.
Sootblowers are used for cleaning the walls and conduits in power plant boilers and soda recovery boilers. They comprise a part performing a back-and-forth movement, which is fixed, e.g., to a stationary part and provided with a nozzle through which a cleaning fluid is applied to the surface to be cleaned. The cleaning fluid is mostly steam.
A steam boiler may be equipped with a great number of sweepers. For example, certain boiler constructions may comprise more than a hundred sweepers. Each sweeper is connected to a separate instrumentation which determines the local sootblower requirement. Each sweeper follows its own schedule, which depends on how rapidly the respective area gets dirty. Sweepers are installed at greatly varying heights from the ground; some of them are positioned at the top and the other at the bottom on different sides of the boiler.
The lubrication of sweepers has proved to be difficult mainly for the following reasons. The number of lubrication points in the boiler is often very great, and the lubrication points are difficult to access, as one also has to move vertically to reach them. The lubrication requirements also vary greatly from one boiler lubrication point to another. Problems are also caused by the relatively long gear rack which requires proper lubrication to operate reliably in all conditions.
Previous attempts to provide an economical, extensive and automatic sweeper lubrication system have not been successful.